Sunday Fiction

She stood quietly for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts beyond a scroll of "Oh My God". When she began her day, it never occurred to her that a mere hour later she would be standing next to Andrew. It was inconceivable; he had been gone for so long. He had become an apparition, someone she perhaps knew once. Not an actual person.

His voice brought her back “Kelleigh, when can I see you? Where?”

“Home” she answered without thinking. “You can come to my house. Tonight. After work. I have to go now.” She began to walk away.

“Kelleigh?”

She whirled on Andrew “God Bless America! Andrew! What!?!!”

Andrew broke out into laughter. “What the hell was that?”

Kelleigh couldn’t help but laugh in response. “I’m trying not to curse, especially right now.”

Andrew could only laugh and shake his head.

“Andrew, I swear to God if you don’t stop laughing…”

He threw up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I give up. You swear however you want to.” She raised her eyebrows in warning and he continued “I just need to know where ‘home’ is.”

She rubbed her forehead in frustration. “I live in my grandma’s house. Where I practically lived as a kid. You remember where it is, don’t you?”

“I can’t believe you still live there. “

“Well, some things change, some things remain the same, Andrew. You weren’t here. Now, I’m going to work and I will see you later. “ She turned on her heel and resisted the urge to run away from him. Methodically, she put her key in the door, opened it and slid inside. Overwhelmed now that she was out of his sight, she leaned against the door for a moment and tried to gain control of her emotions. Taking a few deep breaths, she straightened up, took a breath and went to work.

Mercifully she had meetings scheduled all day. She was working on grants and contracts for the library with her board of directors. This didn’t allow for swooning over Andrew’s return beyond a pang in her chest when she thought of him. She ignored it as much as she could, burying herself in budgets and paperwork.

She finished her meetings, returned telephone calls and finished up her daily tasks single-mindedly. With all of her concerted efforts, she found herself finished with her day early. An hour early.